Conventionally, in the case where a home delivery package consignor sends a package to a consignee by using a home delivery service, the consignor hands the package in such a manner that the consignor himself/herself brings the package to an agent of a home delivery carrier such as a convenience store or a branch office of the home delivery carrier, or calls a branch office of the home delivery carrier or the like so that a driver of a truck of the home delivery carrier comes to the consignor's home to pick up the package. After the picked-up package is delivered to a consolidating center by the driver of the truck so as to be sorted by the destination, the package is transported to a delivery center for the destination. Then, the package is delivered from the delivery center to the consignee's home by a driver of a truck of the home delivery carrier, who is in charge of delivery in the area, so as to be directly handed to the home delivery consignee.
In a conventional home delivery package collecting/delivering method, however, since a package is delivered by hand, the home delivery package consignor must stay home until a truck of a home delivery carrier arrives for the consignor's request for collection of the package. Therefore, there is a problem that time constraints are imposed on the consignor. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of the home delivery carrier, if the consignor is absent at the time when the delivery carrier arrives at the home delivery consignor's home to collect the package at the request of the consignor, the home delivery carrier not only goes to the consignor's home in vain but also must go to the consignor's home again for collecting the package. Therefore, there is a problem that delivery/collection efficiency is lowered.
Moreover, if the consignee is absent at the time when the home delivery carrier delivers the package to the home delivery consignee's home, the home delivery carrier not only goes to the consignee's home in vain but also must go to the consignee's home again for delivering the package. Therefore, there is a problem that delivery/collection efficiency is remarkably lowered. In principle, the home delivery consignee is not informed of the contents of the package in advance. Thus, at the delivery of an article ordered by mail through the Internet, for example, in the case where a wrong article is delivered in the absence of an addressed person, the others do not know whether the article is the one actually ordered or not. Therefore, there is a problem that a person other than the addressed person might pay for the article by cash on delivery, which is not actually needed. On the other hand, in the case where cash on delivery payment or delivery fee payment on delivery is refused, the home delivery carrier takes a long time in collecting the payment. Furthermore, there is a disadvantage in terms of crime prevention as follows. Since a package is normally delivered without any notices in advance, the consignee may open the door without any suspicions on arrival of the home delivery package. As a result, a thief pretending to be a delivery man may break into the house.
An object of the present invention is to provide a home delivery box and a home delivery package collecting/delivering system and a method therefor, in which the reliability and the efficiency of collection/delivery of a home delivery package are improved through transmission/reception of information by using a network such as the Internet.
The other object of the present invention is to provide a home delivery box and a home delivery package collecting/delivering system and a method therefor, which improve the convenience and the safety of a home delivery service user.